Dhinsa v. Krueger

917 F.3d 70
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit·Decided February 20, 2019·No. 17-874·Published·Cited by 87 cases

Opinion

Susan L. Carney, Circuit Judge:

Petitioner-appellant Gurmeet Singh Dhinsa appeals from a judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (Edward R. Korman, Judge ) denying his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Dhinsa claims that he is entitled to bring a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 because the standard remedies under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 are "inadequate or ineffective to test the legality of his detention," thereby entitling him to invoke the "savings clause" codified in 28 U.S.C. § 2255(e).

In 1999, a jury convicted Dhinsa on numerous counts arising out of his leadership role in an extensive racketeering enterprise, including two counts of murdering a potential witness or informant in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1)(C) ("informant murder").1 He is now serving six concurrent life sentences, including a life term on each count of informant murder. In his habeas petition, he challenges only those two convictions, and so the relief he seeks would not affect the length of his incarceration. This circumstance raises the question whether he has standing to maintain his petition. We conclude that he does, in light of the $100 special assessment that attaches to each of the challenged convictions. If Dhinsa's challenge is successful as to either conviction, he may be entitled to vacatur of the corresponding sentence, including the special assessment. Although the special assessments are slight in amount, we think that each is a concrete, redressable injury sufficient to establish Dhinsa's Article III standing to challenge these two convictions.

Having confirmed Dhinsa's constitutional standing to assert the petition, we next consider whether Dhinsa is entitled to bring a § 2241 habeas petition under the § 2255(e) savings clause. A petitioner who invokes the savings clause must demonstrate, on the existing record, that he is innocent of the crime of conviction under a *74legal theory that was not previously available to him. Here, Dhinsa asserts that he is innocent of both counts of informant murder under the Supreme Court's decision in Fowler v. United States , 563 U.S. 668, 131 S.Ct. 2045, 179 L.Ed.2d 1099 (2011), which requires the prosecution to show that the murder victim was "reasonably likely" to have communicated with a federal official. Id. at 678, 131 S.Ct. 2045. We conclude that, on the existing record, Dhinsa has failed to make the threshold showing of innocence. He ordered the killing of the two victims after they began investigating his multi-year, multimillion-dollar racketeering enterprise, through which Dhinsa committed acts of violence, fraud, and bribery. Racketeering enterprises of this nature are commonly investigated and prosecuted by federal officials. Thus, a juror could reasonably find that each of Dhinsa's victims was "reasonably likely" to have communicated with federal officials had Dhinsa not ordered him killed. The District Court was thus correct to conclude that Dhinsa has failed to make the required threshold showing under § 2255(e). This threshold test is jurisdictional, however, and so the District Court erred insofar as it entered a judgment denying the petition on the merits. Accordingly, we VACATE that portion of the judgment and REMAND the case with instructions for the District Court to enter a judgment dismissing the petition for lack of jurisdiction.

BACKGROUND

I. Dhinsa's criminal trial and direct appeal

In 1999, a jury convicted Dhinsa on twenty-one counts arising out of Dhinsa's role in a racketeering enterprise. The evidence adduced during Dhinsa's four-month trial before the District Court is described at length in this Court's opinion ruling on his multi-faceted direct appeal. See United States v. Dhinsa ("Dhinsa I "), 243 F.3d 635 (2d Cir. 2001). We set forth those facts here only as necessary to understand and resolve the instant appeal.2

Dhinsa was indicted on twenty-nine counts in connection with his role as "the self-professed leader of the 'Singh Enterprise,' a vast racketeering organization built around a chain of fifty-one gasoline stations that Dhinsa owned and operated throughout the New York City metropolitan area under the name 'Citygas.' " Id. at 643. Dhinsa installed "pump-rigging" technology that overcharged consumers for gas, generating tens of millions of dollars of excess revenues over a period of a decade. Id. He protected the enterprise by bribing public officials, purchasing weapons, and threatening, kidnapping, or murdering individuals whom he viewed as threats to his operations. Id. at 643-46.

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Dhinsa v. Krueger, 917 F.3d 70 (2d Cir. 2019).

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